Bishop Bernard calls for faithfulness and obedience to the Holy Spirit

Apr 29, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR: At an open conversation facilitated by Caritas Malaysia to conclude their National Meet and planning exercise, Bishop Bernard Paul, as President of Caritas Malaysia, called on all diocese directors and ecclesial assistants from Semenanjung, Sabah and Sarawak to remain grounded, faithful and obedient to the Holy Spirit who is trying to lead the Malaysian Church. He said this as he recalled the times where previously discussed matters that were agreed upon were once again brought up for discussion.

“When we build what God wants us to build…. there has to be obedience to the Spirit” (What is the Spirit Saying, HERALD, February 13, 2022.) Faithfulness calls forth obedience and obedience requires discipline. We need to be obedient and submit to the Holy Spirit, uphold faithfulness to the process, the decisions and consensus agreed upon and respect each other, the roles and the office as “even the biggest oil tanker has only one captain to steer the ship”. Adopting these three attitudes are important if we are to build a community-based parish Caritas which is unique to each diocese, and Malaysia.

Caritas Malaysia wants to move away from the traditional welfare agency ideology towards a community- based parish and diocese Caritas where a community culture and way of doing things are adopted. This involves the whole community, which will eventually become a social network with socially minded people. In realising this goal, Bishop Bernard acknowledged that it will take time and reminded everyone to go slow and move at the pace of the Spirit. In serving the social mission of the Malaysian Church, Caritas must aim at “building people, building communities, building parishes.” This will be our contribution to the Malaysian Church, he said. He also cautioned office bearers not to be overly ambitious and take over the roles and functions of other commissions, but rather, work by incorporating and including all social bodies without making them Caritas. Citing some examples, the bishop said that whenever we come across ecological or youth or migrant issues, it should be channelled and discussed with the existing commissions – to see how to collaborate and respond to the needs at hand.

He also emphasised that a space for people to volunteer and become part of Caritas should also be created through awareness, involvement and engagement. “Caritas offices must also embrace the importance of integrating continuous ongoing formation into all activities with small reflections and inputs built into the programmes. It is time we moved on from talking about change to witnessing and acting on the change.”

The bishop affirmed the need to have structures, guidelines and a code of conduct as a way to embrace and practice the visionmission- values. Currently, Caritas Malaysia holds regular meetings with its board every quarter, and a bi-monthly meeting with all the directors and Ecclesiastical Assistants (EAs). A national meet was held at the beginning of the year to come together and plan for the year; and there will be another national gettogether in July 2022 with the aim of fostering bonds and team spirit among all diocese offices.

Bishop Bernard also expressed his wish to have all diocese directors and EAs present at every Caritas Malaysia’s meeting, but it is not enough to just be present. He asked whether the discussions and decisions made during the Caritas meetings were being cascaded down to their dioceses (downline communication) and whether it reaches the people. Once again, the office bearers were reminded to be faithful to the message (continuity). He also welcomed the idea of having the dioceses invite an observer to the directors’ meetings as this serves as an experience for them as well as a succession for future leaders.

Earlier, after the three regional presentations and the key points that emerged from the discussions, resulted in the National office had proposed the following synthesis for Caritas Malaysia as its strategic orientations for 2022 / 2023: 

-- Institution Building – Training/ Formation [spirituality, family spirit (unity), volunteers – youth and women, disaster relief], Organisation Development [structure, policy, guidelines, code of conduct, roles and functions, legal status/registration] 

-- Programme development and collaboration – Programmes and resources [can adapt from Caritas Internationalis / Caritas Asia], Leadership [gaps with grassroots and among leaders], Poverty [grassroots needs], Collaboration [working internally among offices, with other ministries, and external organisation]

-- Communications and Networking – Promote Caritas Identity and Spirituality [keep identity alive, build up a spirit of family, mandates given in trust, attract youth and volunteers], collaborating with other commission/ministries.

The focus areas are presented in the diagram below:

Focus Areas for 2022 / 2023

Caritas Identity
-- What is Caritas
-- Spirituality of Caritas / Family spirit (unity)
-- Awareness programmes
-- Staff initiation

Communication

External Communication
-- Establishing Caritas’ Identity
--  Social Media – updates on events, activities, etc.

Internal communication
--  Branding
--  Vision-mission-values
--  Remove the “fear of take-over”
--  National activities and campaigns

Organisation and Structure
--  SOPs and Policies
--  Code of Conduct and Safeguarding
--  Vision, Mission and Values
--  Legal status

Thematic Programme Areas
-- Poverty
-- Climate Change
-- Migrants
-- Disaster Relief Response

Capacity Building
-- Disaster Relief Response

-- Institution development
Volunteerism 
Spirituality
Fund Raising